(PresidentialWire.com)- Watchdog groups have raised concerns about the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service reportedly violating civil liberties and privacy laws by using sophisticated tools that can break into cellphones and collect personal data and social media posts.
According to an annual report for fiscal year 2020 by the United States Postal Inspection Service, tools known as “GrayKey” and “Cellebrite premium” that were acquired in 2018 and 2019 have allowed the Digital Evidence unit to “extract previously unattainable information from seized mobile devices.”
The report says that in fiscal year 2020, some 331 devices were processed with 242 of them being successfully unlocked or having their data extracted by the tools they had procured.
“The success of the program and ever-increasing demand for services required the purchase this year of a second GrayKey device for use on the East Coast,” the report added.
The blatant promotion of this technology, and the willingness of the Inspection Service to admit to breaking into devices they don’t know, reveals the extent of the government’s ability and willingness to break privacy laws.
According to reports from previous years, the number of phones successfully hacked by the Postal Service has increased substantially, with only 34 devices successfully hacked by Cellebrite in 2019, and just 143 with GrayKey.
How do you feel about the U.S. Postal Service being able to hack any device they get their hands on?
See the full report here.
